Stony Point Penguin Colony

On a recent trip to Betty’s Bay I made a quick stop at Stony Point Penguin Colony.

This reserve used to be a whaling station until it ended its operations around 1930. The African (Jackass) Penguins settled here and decided to start nesting. Now the reserve hosts a very healthy population of African Penguins, amongst other birds like the cormorants, darters and sea gulls.

There is still evidence of the whaling station at the reserve like the old slipway and the shipwreck. The penguins seem very relaxed around people, but don’t get too close to them. They might just bite!

Some of the penguins love posing and are not camera shy at all.

Most of the penguins just gather around each other, minding their own business.

Keeping your eyes open will usually reveal something interesting. My dad noticed an egg that had been scavenged. It might have been snatched by a mongoose, snake or possibly one of the other birds looking for a quick meal.

There were many lizards sitting at the edge of the rocks, basking in the sun. It almost got tiring taking photos of them.

To my surprise there were some Dassies (Rock Hyrax) at the reserve too. They seemed rather lazy and didn’t move around too much.